Valerie Stimac Bailey is a travel, space, and astrotourism writer. She founded Space Tourism Guide in 2017, and her first book Dark Skies: A Practical Guide to Astrotourism was published by Lonely Planet in 2019. Valerie thinks that space travel will be available as a “bucket list” goal to the average person in the not too distant future. In the meantime, let’s make the night sky accessible to everyone so we can all experience “the Milky Way effect.” 

Deep Anand is an astronomy lover and dark sky enthusiast. Deep has been working to spread awareness about light pollution, from his home base in Delhi India. Deep is passionate about bringing the night sky back for the children. Maybe he’ll even get this issue onto the Prime Minister of India's desk. Deep has even written poetry about the night sky and the stars. And get this - he’s only 17!

Dr. George Schaaf is a veterinary pathologist working in the Comparative Medicine department at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Dr. Schaaf studies the effects of light on animals and transfers the learnings to human physiology. You’ll hear about the effects of light and glare on deer, chickens and Syrian hamsters - as well as your beloved pets. He tells us why night matters for animals and about his efforts towards “re-wilding” the environment.

Dajana is a teaching assistant and PhD student at the Department of Geography, Tourism and Hotel Management at the Faculty of Sciences in Novi Sad, Serbia. She is passionate about preserving the night sky and “bringing back the stars to our kids!”. Hear about her creativity in teaching about the night sky using animals, astro hikes, jazz and shared gratitude. You’ll be inspired.

Ryan Andreasen is the founder of Night Sky Science (https://nightskyscience.com/). Astrophotography and Night Sky Preservation is Ryan’s main mission along with getting folks to look up at night. In this episode you’ll hear about the wonder of “touching” the Orion Nebula and about how the night sky can induce powerful emotions. When advocating for dark skies, avoiding words like “dark” or “pollution” can help bureaucrats accept the message. You’ll even hear Michael read some T.S. Elliot. This is a good one.

Mark Clipsham - Architect, builder, consultant, master planner. While battling through his allergies, Mark has a thing or two to say about the growth economy, the constant drive for profit and what drives him nuts about the current state of lighting. Mark offers some ideas on sustaining the environment and bringing back the dark skies.

Deborah Burnett, ASID, AASM, is an internationally recognized registered design professional, Subject Matter Expert (SME) in the field of Light + Health, and member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Deborah is going to let you in on some fascinating facts about the “spring surge,” proper lighting in horse stalls, the moon’s importance in photosynthesis, the suprachiasmatic nucleus, and how the industry selling lighting for your circadian rhythms has become a racket.

Check out Frank’s Night Sky Resource Center (www.nightskyresourcecenter.org) for some awesome astrophotography. Frank advocates seeing the night sky as a resource just like water and air. He tells us about his personal sense of “awe” in seeing the night sky and how you too can lose your self awareness in experiencing the sublime. It’s better than Ayahuasca tea!

Sponsored by Keystone www.keystonetech.com

https://youtu.be/Adx11FQQ2ek

Jim is one of the world’s top authorities on lighting design and applied illuminating engineering. He invented the BUG system that directly affects dark skies. Jim tells us how many birds are killed by the Twin Towers light columns and how vertical light is better than horizontal light. Listen to what happened when Jim joined the board of IES, or when WELL inspectors asked him to close the blinds, or what happened when a cheap metal halide bulb exploded. Don’t mess around with Jim!

If you have crappy sleep or like wearing sunglasses you should probably listen to this. Dr. Rosenthal talks about sleep apnea and electric blue light, hormones and electric blue light, melatonin, proteins, cancer and well, electric blue light...you see where we’re going with this. You need to give this one a listen!